Hot as July, Sweet as Sunshine
by chasingafterstarlight
Summary: They're a summer romance, and they're doomed not to last- except when they do. A girl and a boy and a happily ever after that wasn't meant to be. Scorpius/Dominique, NextGen


**Hot as July, Sweet as Sunshine**

_oh, we'd have fell in love_  
><em>cause what we felt on that Ferris wheel<br>was just too right and just too real  
>but just not long enough<em>  
><strong>- out of summertime, <strong>scotty mccreery

They meet on a whim.

It's an abandoned beach near Shell Cottage, where she likes to go just to relax and unwind. The sand there is white, soft under her bare feet. The waves pound out a perfect rhythm on the flat rocks. It's the perfect place to just relax and dream about better days.

Hence why Dominique Weasley goes there every day of her summer vacation.

But after the first week, she realises that she's not alone.

On the other side of the beach sits a blonde boy, his pale white hair catching the sunlight. At first glance, she doesn't recognize him, but that could be because he's too far away. For the first few days, they sit on opposite sides of the beach, each keeping to themselves. The other's presence is accepted, but not embraced, by each of them.

Just like her, she notices, he doesn't do anything. He just sits on a spare piece of driftwood and lets the waves wash over his toes. Most times, he's wearing some shade of emerald or silver, which makes her think that maybe he's not a Muggle after all.

It takes her a while to work up the nerve to talk to him. She's absolutely sure that he'll think the worst of her, that she's a stalker or something, and what she's deduced from days of staring at him is that he's exceptionally handsome.

But, her bare feet leaving footprints in the sand, she slowly walks over to him, hoping not to scare him. She doesn't- his eyes fly up to meet hers, and she gasps.

"Scorpius," She says, as if it's a fact. Because really, it just _can't_ be him. If there's one thing that everyone knows about Scorpius and Dominique, it's that they hate each other. They're both Slytherins and they contradict each other like any supernovas in the world do.

But she stares at him, eyes wide, until finally he speaks. "Dominique."

It's the first time they've _ever_ called each other by their first names. Usually, it's _Malfoy_ and _Weasley_, because clearly, the two of them don't have enough respect for each other to go by first names.

Moving over, he leaves her some space to sit down. She glances at him, confused. "You expect me to sit beside you and not murder you?"

"Yes," he replies curtly, not offering up an explanation or anything of the like.

Shrugging, she sits down beside him, quite intrigued about how they're doing this- sitting beside each other with neither of them dying. With a frown at him, she asks, "Why are you here?"

She ignores the fact that she has no reason for being there, either.

Crossing and uncrossing his arms, he finally speaks. "Same reason as you, I suppose. I needed somewhere to think."

She bites back the icy remark that bubbles to the surface- _I didn't know you knew how to think-_ and instead nods. "Same with me."

A smirk spreads across his face. "I suppose we'll be sharing this space for the rest of the summer then, if I'm correct?" He slides a bit closer to her, smirking all the while like the Slytherin that it's obvious that he _always_ has been.

Scooting further away from him, she shakes her head. "Maybe I'll just go find another place to think."

He glances up at her, with his grey eyes that freeze her in place with their icy surface and warm depths, contradictions in her own right. "I highly doubt that. I mean, come on, Dominique- we can be civil for one summer, right? If just to preserve this beach?"

Her eyes trace her footsteps sunken into the sand, the water, her favourite flat rocks, before returning to him. Sighing, she nods. "But not for you. Just for the beach."

"I wouldn't dream of anything more," he informs her seriously.

They watch the waves for an hour, sitting side by side (and neither of them kills the other).

It's sort of like a romance novel (only _not_ because it's Scorpius and Dominique).

…

The next time she comes to the beach, she sits down beside him, no questions asked, no greetings exchanged. He glances over at her but doesn't comment, even as she starts singing softly to herself.

Finally, he curiously asks, "What are you singing?"

"Look, if you're going to tease me about my singing, I'm not entirely opposed to punching your face in," She warns him with a scowl.

"No, no, you're quite good," he reassures her with a smile. "I was just wondering."

"I wrote it, well, sort of," she replies, kicking her feet against the sand and not meeting his eyes. "Molly helped me, as she's much more eloquent than I."

He nods in an accepting manner, and they sit there, bathed in silence, until Scorpius grows bored. A particularly big wave comes in, and as it does, he skims his hands along the blue water so that it sprays all over Dominique.

"Malfoy," she shrieks, obviously not pleased with him (especially since she's wearing a thin, silvery shirt). "I'm going to murder you slowly, hear that?"

But all he can do is laugh at the dripping wet young girl and take off running, laughing pleasantly as she chases around and threatens to do everything she can think of to him. Because really, this, to him, is what summer is- pranking people and just having a good time with life.

But as she finally gets herself together enough to find a spare bucket of water and dump it over his unsuspecting blonde hair, and he yells at her about how the salt water will damage his roots, they both end up laughing so hard that they fall onto the sand.

"Didn't know you were such an effeminate lad, Scorpius," Dominique teases, grinning over at him.

"Didn't know you were so girly, Dominique," he mocks back, sticking out his tongue.

"Mind if I call you Scor?" she wonders.

"Mind if I call you Dom?"

"No, go ahead," the two of them answer in unison.

As the sun sets in the sky, they think that this could be the end of the infamous rivalry between the two of them.

…

Days pass quickly, and almost every day, they meet there. Sometimes they talk; sometimes the silence consumes them. Either way, it's completely comfortable and so _them _that it's unbelievable.

They're suddenly almost _good_ friends, which is completely unbelievable, because they hate each other- right? But this isn't hate, Dominique decides.

One day, when she shows up there, she grins at Scorpius, wriggling her bare toes in the sand. "Want to go swimming?" She asks, biting her lip.

He stares at her, confused. "What do you take me for, some reckless Gryffindor?'

"That rhymed," she informs him in a dead tone. "Anyway, swimming is not _reckless_. It's merely a form of recreation."

"And there could be sharks," he reminds her, glancing into the water nervously.

"Scared, Scor?"

His eyes flicker with indecision as he looks between her and the water. "Course not."

"Well," Dominique laughs, slipping out of her coverup (which only makes things all the more awkward as she's borrowed Victoire's swimsuit), "Come on in then, the water's fine!"

He laughs a little bit (and she notices that, much to her discomfort, his eyes don't stray from her), before his eyes travel to her golden hair (which she counts as a relief). Rather than stand there and be the object of his scrutiny, she jumps into the admittedly cold water, letting it cover her before she resurfaces and grins at him. "Come on, you're not going to let me swim alone."

"I suppose not," he admits reluctantly. Slowly, he takes off his shirt as if it's for dramatic effect, and quickly, he jumps into the water.

She swims over to him, laughing. "Looks like someone's a bit self-conscious."

"Look who's talking," he replies, smirking, but he grins at her anyway. Diving under the water, he does a handstand before flipping and coming back up for air.

"Don't show off," she protests with a frown. "No one likes a show-off, y'know."

"Your cousin did," he replies. "I can see why." Seeming to be more comfortable around her, he flexes a muscle and beams at her.

"Oh, shut up," she says lightly. "You're just upset that you don't have a girlfriend anymore."

His head immediately turns down to stare at the water. "I... I broke up with her, actually, so it's not that big a shocker."

"Wait," Dominique stares at him, apparently containing her shock. "I thought it was the other way around. You broke up with _her_? You… you idiot," She hisses, for lack of better words.

He laughs humourlessly. "You don't get it, do you, Dom? I had to. It wasn't working anymore and she… she cheated on me with that Nott kid."

"Hold up," Dominique held up a hand. "Rose cheated on you with Dawson Nott? This is just too weird for words. And so you were obligated to break up with her then, I suppose? Wow…"

Nodding, he stares into the water at his reflection before he looks up at her. "Race you to the rock?" He inclines his head, indicating a large, flat rock where the surface hovers barely above the soft waves, offering her a smile.

"Of course," she laughs, diving under the waves and taking off, oblivious to his protests about how she gets a head start or whatever. Quickly, she moves her arms and legs in perfect sync, tunneling straight over to the rock and resurfacing there with a grin. In a cold, Slytherin tone, she informs him, "I believe we all see who the clear winner is here, Malfoy."

"Not fair," he protests as he finally resurfaces. "You got a head start."

"It didn't make that big of a difference," she replies, her superiority evident in her voice. "Want me to race you again?"

"Let's go," he tells her evenly, and this time, to her chagrin, she gives him a five second head start before she takes off. Limbs moving in perfect harmony, she propels herself faster until she passes him, shooting him a big smile before ducking her head back under the water and pushing herself all the way to the rock.

"See," she says impetuously once she reaches the rock, "I told you so."

"Wow," he rolls his eyes. "I'm so proud of you, Dominique- you finally learned how to swim."

"Oh, shut up," she replies. "Better than you, at least."

But it's then that she realises that where he's resurfaced is _so_ close to him- so close that if she leaned one more inch forward, they would be kissing. It feels so right, being close to him. But no, no, no, this is happening. She has to remind herself that it's _Scorpius_ and she's hated him since forever.

Pulling back, her foot slips and she hits it hard against a rock. Cursing under her breath, she stares at him. "I, um, I have to go now."

"All right, bye!" He calls behind her as she, ignoring the pain in her foot, runs all the way home.

She just _can't_ do anything with him, because it'll only lead to her destruction. They're a contradiction, but only because they're so _alike_-in her opinion, Slytherin and Slytherin only leads in downfalls. Besides, two supernovas will only lead to a massive explosion to colour the sky. There's no way they would ever work out, right?

Besides, she's just a Slytherin and she's completely scared of commitment, so her favourite way to get out is by running away.

….

Even so, she returns to the beach the very next day with a sprained ankle. She takes great pleasure in dramatically presenting it to Scorpius, who just rolls his eyes and tells her to "man up,", to which she protests that she's not a man.

"Oh, I know," he replies, staring at her like a lion stares at his prey, which creeps her out.

They start to walk together out further onto the beach, when their eyes fall upon a great pile of trash that's been strewn all over the sand.

"Idiots," Dominique mutters along with a long string of curses. "Dumping trash all over my lawn. Who the heck do they think they are?"

"Better than everyone else, obviously," Scorpius mutters, glancing at the bits of strewn trash.

"But that's untrue," Dominique replies, scowling at the pile of trash. "They're just unsophisticated idiots who think it's okay to pollute the world with their _trash_- double meaning intended."

He shrugs. "Well, we can't leave the trash just sitting here, can we?"

Deflating, she shakes her head. "I'll be right back, Scorpius, make sure none of the idiots come back and dump their _trash_ all over my- our- beach." Then, pushing herself up on her crutches, she hobbles back in the direction that she came from. It takes her quite a while, but after about 20 minutes or so she returns with plastic gloves and trash bags. "Let's get to work, shall we?"

"You expect me to pick up the trash with my _bare_ hands?" exclaims the pampered Malfoy.

"Not with your bare hands, idiot," she rolls her eyes. Holding up the gloves, she explains, "You put them _on_ so that you don't get any germs from some loser's trash. Now put them on before I change my mind about helping this beach."

Clamping his mouth shut, he puts on the gloves. He winces- probably at how they feel against his hands, rubbery and a bit gross- but bends down to pick up the trash anyway. Throwing a wrapper in the trashcan, he says absently, "I hate people sometimes."

"I hate people a lot of the time," She shrugs. "It's quite the Slytherin concept."

"You're not looking forward to going back to school then?" He asks curiously as he tosses in an apple core.

Shaking her head, she truthfully says, "Not at all. School is the bane of my existence as I have to associate with people and act as if I like them."

He's quiet for a moment, probably considering the implications of her words. Suddenly, she yearns to take them back. But it's too late as he whispers, "Do you pretend to like me?"

_Does she_? The words hit her like a snowstorm, freezing the ice in her veins before it melts and she looks at him, really looks at him. The feelings she's been having the past few weeks she knows that she wouldn't have had with anyone else. Looking at him, she realises that she can honestly say, "No, I don't pretend."

Then, in one fluid motion, he steps so close that his breath mingles with hers. All cleaning is forgotten and the Cadbury wrapper he was holding dropped as his lips collide with hers in a flurry of built up passion and something like a cheap replacement for love.

It feels so _wrong_ and so _right _at the same time, and she doesn't know why.

But she pushes him away with a scowl. Trying to catch her breath, she whispers, "We _can't_, Scorpius."

It's a foreign concept to both of them- being told that they _can't_ do something- but right now, she's more certain of that than anything, that what's happening between them is _wrong_ and shouldn't be happening. If it's a romance, then it's one of those cliché summer romances from the trashy romance novels her sister reads. And if there's anything that Dominique Weasley _isn't,_ it's cliché. She hates cliché with all her being.

As he leans in and kisses her again (his mistake), she quickly pushes him away, her blue eyes glittering with diamond-like tears. "I can't do this, Scorpius."

"You can't what?" he asks obliviously.

"It's just not meant to be, you and me," she whispers, her eyes travelling to the ground. "We're not the perfect couple. You have someone that'll be perfect for you and I do too. We just have to give it time."

Wiping under her eyes for any flyaway tears, she gives him a scowl and then, with her crutches still under her arms, she hands him the trash bag and starts to hobble as fast as she can back to Shell Cottage.

"Dominique!" Scorpius calls after her before glancing back at the trashcan. "Are you really going to leave me here to clean this beach alone?"

_Alone._ The word echoes in her head. She's alone, she doesn't need him- except when she does.

But she turns her head and continues to run because she knows that if she goes back she'll mess herself up.

…

She doesn't go to the beach the next day, or the day after that. Instead, she just lies at home, a useless pile of blonde girl.

Louis walks up to her and stares. "What are you _doing_, Dominique? Honestly, I knew that Slytherins loved angst, but this is a bit too much."

"I'm not an animal in the zoo, Louis, you can get on with your bad self," she retorts, glaring at her younger brother.

"Boy problems?" Louis asks with a mischievous grin.

"Do you really want to know?" she mutters.

Thinking it over for a second, he then replies, "No, I suppose I don't," and walks away, hands shoved in his pockets.

But she continues to lie there, wondering if Scorpius still loyally goes to the beach every day. She wonders if he still sits on the piece of driftwood. Most of all, she wonders if, while he's sitting there, he thinks of her when he watches the powerful waves grind the smooth rocks. She wonders if he remembers her comparison of them to the waves.

"It's like we're the waves," She'd said eagerly, so long before, "And the rocks are our lives. Because, you know, life is what you make out of it."

He'd just laughed at the time because obviously Scorpius Malfoy is too big for deep comments. But she knew that he'd understood her meaning perfectly.

Now, she realises that life _is_ what you make out of it. And at some time, she's going to own up to what happened between her and Scorpius, because truthfully, she'd wanted it as much as he had. Besides, it was probably meant to happen at some time, but she didn't want to admit that she truly, honestly liked him. That would only lead her to heartbreak, which was not what she wanted at all.

So she lies at home like the fallen star that she feels like, useless and helpless. But of course, he finds her.

He's always known how to find her.

He's also always known how to get under her skin.

Rapping softly on the door to her bedroom door, he asks softly, "Dominique, I know you're in there. Can I come in?"

"Oh, so I'm Dominique now, am I?" she replies harshly. "Leave me alone, _Scorpius_, I'm indecent."

"Fine," Scorpius replies, so obviously undeterred. "I'll just wait out in the den and you join me when you're ready, all right?"

"Don't hold your breath," she calls, but he always knows how to push her buttons so she climbs out of the bed and pulls on her clothes as slowly as she can. With a frown, she pokes her head out of the door and looks to see that he's _still_ there, conversing tensely with her younger brother Louis, and she has to wonder why he's there- if he doesn't like her, then why would he put himself through all of this? Trying not to let her imagination wander, she runs a hand through her curls one last time before she steps out of her room and says stiffly, "Hello, Scorpius."

"Scorpius now, is it?" he asks, staring at her. "Are you not going to sit down?"

She scowls widely at him, showing her discontent with him being here and, well, everything, but sits down nonetheless. "What? Are we _honestly_ going to sit here and have a grown-up conversation about the fact that we snogged?"

"Yes, we are," Scorpius says with a big nod. "Because I'm a mature person even if you aren't. Anyway," Scorpius shot her a look of scrutiny, "We snogged. Fact of the matter is, we can't change it now-"

Louis cut him off, much to Dominique's pleasure and displeasure. "DOM, YOU SNOGGED MALFOY? HOW COULD YOU?"

"Oh, shut up," Dominique calls back to her brother before turning her piercing glare on Scorpius. "Yes, we kissed, that's obvious. But the question is-"

"What are we going to do about it?" he interrupts her, making her all the more irritated.

"Well, if you think I'm going to date you, you can get that ridiculous notion out of your brain right now," she informs him with a scowl.

"Why?" his grey eyes twinkle. "_Scared_, Weasley?"

"No," she lies, but she is scared- scared that she'll end up heartbroken, scared that they won't work out and their 'friendship' will be forever ruined.

"What?" he teases with a grin. "Scared that I'll break your heart?"

"I'll break yours first," she scowls at him.

He moves a little bit closer to her. "You couldn't if you tried."

"Is that a challenge?" she whispers, realising once again how _very_ close he is to her.

"If you want it to be," he replies, moving closer once again before he leans in to once again press his lips to hers. She kisses back this time, pulling herself all the more closer, because she might just be _head over heels_ for him- no matter how much she doesn't want to be. It's a nice kiss, an explosion of two supernovas, but it's more of a beautiful explosion.

Then, someone's voice breaks through the kiss. "DOM! YOU _ARE _SNOGGING MALFOY! HOW COULD YOU? HE'S NOT EVEN THAT SEXY!"

Giggling, she offers Scorpius her hand. He takes it, pulling her off the couch, and quickly, the two of them dash out of Shell Cottage before Dominique's father can come after the two of them. Scorpius kisses her again once they get outside, the salty air ruffling their blonde hair.

"Go out with me?" he asks between kisses.

"Yes," she whispers, her voice travelling through the air.

Everyone has to face their fears sometime, right?

…

After that, they're basically your typical summer romance.

They are stolen kisses on the piece of driftwood that has lately become the centerpiece of their relationship. Later, they carve their initials into it like some sappy couple- _DW + SM._ Dominique doesn't believe she's ever liked the feel of her initials under her fingers so very much.

They are illegal rides on her father's boat in thunderstorms. Her father isn't very happy with either of them after that one, so Dominique's grounded from seeing Scorpius for a bit, but she still manages to sneak out and see him, being the rebel that she always was.

They are dances in the humid July rain, her pressed up against his chest, content smile on her face despite the way her heart is hammering.

Every day is full of a new memory. It's not at all the fighting relationship that Dominique had expected. Sure, they have their fights, but in the end, they're Dominique and Scorpius, and they're still together, so none of their fights really make a difference.

But it's one day that changes everything.

They're swimming and drenching each other, fighting as usual, but this time, it's more of a play (flirty) fight. But then he grabs her and tickles her, causing her to hit her foot on the rock again. There's a sound that she hates and pain flashes through her foot.

"Scor," she chokes out. "My… foot…"

His eyes flash with understanding and he picks her up quickly in his arms, making her feel as though she weighs nothing. He runs quickly to her house, where her mother (asking no questions) quickly bandages up Dominique's foot and leaves, saying, "You should not keep her awake, 'corpio, she needs to sleep."

"All right," he says with a sweet smile at her mother before he leans down and kisses Dominique's forehead. "I love you, Dom."

Her eyes shoot wide open. "W-what?"

"I love you," he repeats, amused, and his sincerity is evident in his tone.

She stares at him before clamping her eyes shut and pretending to fall asleep.

"Look, Dom," he sighs, a bit exasperated. "If you don't love me, you can just say."

"It's just," she pushes herself up a little bit so that she can truly look at him, "I'm not used to relationships or loving anyone."

His eyes light up. "So you do love me?"

"I love you," she confirms, and then she nearly falls asleep but she can feel Scorpius' lips against hers before he pulls away.

…

The thing that looms in front of Dominique like a needle in front of a little child is the fact that summer will soon be over. And, from all of the sappy summer romance movies that Rose and Molly forced her to watch, she knows that all summer romances end at the end of the summer.

She kisses him as much as she can and tells him that she loves him as many times as she can without being overly sappy. The two of them do everything they want to do, but there's still this thing looming over her heart. She feels that she's _insufficient_ for him- they just will fall apart, she thinks.

He finds her sitting at the edge of the pier, head in her hands, crying. Walking up, he slides his arm around her. "Are you okay, Dom?"

"I'm fine, Scor," she replies, but she sniffles and then breaks down again.

He wraps his arms around her, letting her cry into his shoulder. "Obviously you're _not_ fine, liar. What's gotten to you?" His voice is full of concern because normally Dominique is strong like iron but now she's sitting here, crying as if her world is ending.

"The end of the summer," she replies simply.

"What's wrong with the end of the summer? Not looking forward to school?" he wonders with a frown.

"No," she sniffles. "You and me… what's going to happen to us after the summer, Scor?"

"Well, this… I don't know, well… wait? You thought I was going to break up with you just because the summer will be over soon?" his head shoots up. "Are you crazy, Dom? I want us to continue past the summer. Why would you even think that?"

"Well," she murmurs, "because usually summer romances end at the end of the summer."

He stares at her, looking conflicted, before he leans over and presses his lips to hers again. "We're not going to end with the summer. I just know it."

Then they carve their initials into the edge of the pier. She pushes him off the pier into the ocean, and in revenge, he pulls her down too.

She's happy because she realises that the summer's end won't mean an end to their relationship, in fact, it'll just be another beginning.

_oh, she could've been mine  
>but we ran out of summertime<em>

**A/N: SCORDOM. AH, I LOVE THEM.**

**Lyrics don't belong to me, but in fact, to Scotty.**

**This is for all us ScorDom shippers, cause we've got to stick together, y'know?**


End file.
